Exodus 40:13, commentary and pictures

Aaron was to be washed, then clothed in the set-apart garments, anointed and made holy, and by that clothing, anointing and making holy he was set apart and fitted to serve as priest. This was done when the wilderness tabernacle, the earthly center of Israel's worship, was reared up on the first day of the first month in the second year after leaving Egypt, after the pattern shown on the mount. His service there was a lesson-picture of Christ's priestly work in the heavenly sanctuary, the shadow pointing to the true worship centered in the coming Messiah until the veil was rent. The anointing of the earthly sanctuary and of Aaron for putting away sin is the type of the anointing of the heavenly sanctuary, even of the anointing of the Most Holy foretold in Daniel, so that Christ's ministry there could begin only after that anointing. When raised and seated at God's right hand He dedicated His own priesthood and the heavenly holy and most holy places to put away sin, beginning in the first apartment in view of the final atonement and judgment before the ark.

Setting Up the Tabernacle

The command is to put the holy garments upon Aaron and to anoint him and sanctify him, and that clothing and anointing and sanctifying set him apart and qualified him to minister in the priest's office, with washing preceding the clothing. The consecration so described is the preparation required before Aaron could enter upon the priestly service appointed in the tabernacle, and it gives the instruction governing who was appointed to the priesthood. The Aaronic priesthood thus appointed is described as perpetual or everlasting, yet its promised duration could expire, as with other institutions called perpetual or everlasting.

The verse belongs to the rearing up of the wilderness tabernacle, the earthly sanctuary where Israel's worship centered, in the second year after the departure from Egypt, on the first day of the first month. It is part of the account of the sanctuary being built and set up after God gave Moses the sanctuary instructions on the mount, and the chapter is identified as recording the erection of the sanctuary. The sanctuary and its service teach God's way.

The sanctuary was built after deliverance from Egyptian bondage with a mighty hand, when hundreds of years of slavery had unfitted Israel to comprehend God's great salvation and the character He required. It was built from the free-will offerings of the children of Israel, by workmen specially endowed by God, according to a divine pattern given to Moses in the mount, with its dimensions, material, furnishings and all exactly according to the directions given. It was a dwelling God asked Israel to make so He could dwell among them and reveal more fully His great love, made as God's dwelling-place among His people that He might dwell among men, and described as a marvelously beautiful structure and a great multiple object-lesson which by various forms and rites comprehended in its teaching the great plan of salvation. It continued the unfolding plan of redemption first shown in the simple offering of a lamb for sin with the father of each family acting as priest, and the same sanctuary pattern continued in the temple built by Solomon.

At the setting up Moses spread the tent over the tabernacle and put the testimony of the ten commandments, spoken with God's voice and written with His finger at Sinai, into the ark made to receive it, with the mercy-seat set upon it in the second apartment, the most holy place, and set up the vail. The table of shewbread and the golden candlestick were placed in the windowless first apartment with the lamps lighted before the Lord, the golden altar was put before the vail with sweet incense burned thereon, and the burnt offering and the meat offering were offered on the altar before the door of the tabernacle, all as commanded. When the work was finished as commanded and the offerings were made, the cloud covered the tent of the congregation and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle where God dwelt in thick darkness. In this God took possession of it as His dwelling among Israel, accepted the people's repentance, and blessed the congregation and the building.

The placing of the table and showbread at the setup on Abib 1, the first day of the first month, does not prove that day was the weekly Sabbath, because the command to set out the showbread every Sabbath was given later.

The verse belongs to the worship part of Exodus, chapters 25 to 40, in the book named for going out for Israel's departure from Egypt from bondage into nationhood, giving thorough organization, efficient leadership, and an established form of worship. It belongs to the separate set of laws for the regulation of worship, with Exodus 29 to 31, consecrating Aaron to the priest's office with holy garments and anointing, distinct from the laws for civil government in Exodus 21 to 23. The two systems must go side by side on entirely separate lines of operation, because civil government controls men by force in outward relations during probation while true religion persuades men to be reconciled to God, so any commingling harms both. It is part of the law of Moses commanded through Moses in Horeb, included with the statutes and judgments together with the Ten Commandments and all other precepts set forth in Exodus 20 to 40 and Leviticus, belonging to the laws in which offerings, sacrifices and types were revealed, shadows from which the substance of the new dispensation may be traced, among the laws God in the last days calls His people to remember, both the great laws that are the rule of conduct and the ceremonial types.

The sanctification described set the sanctuary apart for holy use, so that the priests could not treat it like their own homes. It was performed entirely by Moses in the presence of Aaron and his sons, including putting the holy garments upon Aaron and anointing and sanctifying him to minister in the priest's office. This due order establishes the precedent for Solomon taking the leading part in everything at the temple dedication, exhorting, sacrificing, praying, consecrating the temple, and blessing the people, even in things supposed to belong exclusively to the priests, while the high priest is not noticed.

Type of Christ's Ministry

Aaron clothed, anointed, and set apart to serve as priest was an object lesson and type of Christ's ministry in the heavenly sanctuary, and the tabernacle also pictured God's desire to dwell among men and in human hearts. The sanctuary and its service teach God's way as an object lesson of Christ's priestly work in the heavenly sanctuary, built with its dimensions, material, furnishings and all exactly according to the directions given in the mount after deliverance from Egypt. The earthly priesthood was typical and shadowy, serving unto the example of heavenly things, an object lesson pointing to the coming Messiah and His power to forgive sin, transform the character, and deliver from burdens. True worship centered in it until the death of Christ rent the veil and the earthly sanctuary passed away entirely and forever.

The earthly sanctuary and its priesthood belonged to the ceremonial system, with Aaron clothed, anointed, and set apart to minister as priest and with priestly service assigned to the tribe of Levi. This priesthood and its sacrifices taught how atonement was made in shadow, pointing forward to Christ's priesthood and the real atonement in the heavenly sanctuary. That law of the tabernacle priesthood ceased with the earthly tabernacle ordinances at Christ's death, for Aaron's priesthood and its related rites were limited to the Jewish nation and served as types pointing forward to Christ, so their duration ended when their purpose was fulfilled. Though the Aaronic priesthood is described as perpetual or everlasting and listed among perpetual observances, its promised duration could expire just as other institutions so called did, which does not apply to the seventh-day Sabbath, which is not a type.

The ministration carried forward through the entire Old Testament period placed the two tables spoken with God's own voice and written with His own finger at Sinai in the ark made on purpose to receive them, and placed that ark in the second apartment, the most holy place of the typical sanctuary, while setting apart Aaron and the Levitical order to minister before that ark while the typical sanctuary should continue. That priestly ministration before the ark of the testament could only exhibit the guilt and just condemnation and death of sinful transgressors under the holy law, containing in itself no promise of pardon and offering no sacrifice that could take away sin. It could only point penitent sinners forward to the great Sacrifice to be offered for the sins of men, to the coming Messiah with power to forgive sin, transform character, and deliver from burdens. The top of the ark is the mercy-seat, where the breaker of the law contained beneath it finds pardon by the sprinkling of the blood of atonement.

The anointing of the sanctuary and the consecration of Aaron for priestly service is the type of the anointing of the heavenly sanctuary. This is one possible fulfillment of Daniel's prophecy to anoint the Most Holy, alongside Christ's anointing as He began His everlasting priesthood. Since the sanctuary and its ministry were inaugurated by anointing, with Aaron to be clothed in holy garments, anointed, and set apart before he ministered as priest, Christ could not have ministered in the heavenly sanctuary before it was anointed.

As Aaron and the earthly sanctuary were consecrated for putting away sin, so when Christ was raised and set at God's right hand He likewise consecrated the heavenly sanctuary and His own priesthood for the good of His creatures to put away sin. That dedication covered both the holy and the most holy places. He began ministering in the first apartment where the seven lamps and altar of incense are, ever in view of the final day of atonement, and the earthly priest's service likewise looked ahead to the day of atonement. Christ's ministry likewise looked ahead to the judgment at the close of His work, when in the end of His ministry He will enter the most holy place before the ark for His last act of service in the judgment.